Disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam reached 400 million U.S. dollar in January, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8 percent, reported the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) on Friday.

Newly registered investment capital hit 29.5 million U.S. dollar, equivalent to 2.4 percent of the same period last year. Meanwhile, existing FDI projects expanded their investment by 7.8 million U.S. dollar during the month, which brought the total FDI registered capital in January to 37.3 million U.S. dollar, down by 97.5 percent year-on-year, said the report.

The starting figures could not seen as positive in the context that MPI set a target of luring FDI investors'15-16 billion U.S. dollar, of which 10-11 billion U.S. dollar are expected to be disbursed this year.

In 2011, Vietnam attracted 19.7 billion U.S. dollar in FDI and disbursed 11 billion U.S. dollar, reported MPI.

During the month, France took the lead in FDI registered capital with 10 million U.S. dollar, accounting for 34 percent of the country's total amount. Japan followed with 8.1 million U.S. dollar and South Korea with 5.4 million U.S. dollar.

Processing and manufacturing sector attracted the most FDI with 27.1 million U.S. dollar, followed by the construction sector with 8.4 million U.S. dollar.

According to MPI, Vietnam would welcome FDI projects in green technology, high-tech industry and human resources, and limit those in non-manufacturing sectors such as tourism and services.